Cleated belts of the type with which the instant invention is concerned are used for the most part as conveyor belts, the cleats serving to retain the materials being conveyed, even when the belt moves along pathways rather sharply inclined to the horizontal. The width of such belts, the height of the cleats above the surfaces of the belts, the shapes of the cleats and the spacing of the cleats from each other along the lengths of the belts all are determined by the nature of the materials being conveyed. For examples, for cartons the cleats need only be high enough above the belt surface to catch the corners of the cartons and spaced only a sufficient distance to enable one or more cartons (as desired) to be placed in each of the intervals between cleats; for particulate material, the cleats would be of such size, shape and spacing as to enable quantities of the material to be deposited between them at the rate desired for feeding that particular material. If measured charges of particulate or pulverulent material were to be fed by such a belt, the material could be fed on to the surface of the belt and the belt could pass beneath what might be called a "doctor blade" sweeping across the tops of the cleats, thus leaving a measured charge between successive cleats.
Most cleated belting is fabricated from continuous lengths of reinforced belting base, i.e., a relatively thin, continuous, fabric reinforced rubber or rubber-like material of the desired width, to which the cleats are vulcanized. It will be appreciated, therefore, that molds for the fabrication of a particular configuration of cleated belting must be able to withstand the pressures and temperatures required for such treatment.
It also has been necessary to have a specific mold for each length of a cleated belt to be fabricated for each particular spacing of cleats, even of the same configuration, each mold being relatively expensive and utilizable only for that particular spacing.
The fabrication of continuous lengths of cleated belting has been done before by progressively feeding a web of backing between the vertically separable, heated platens of a press, one of the platens carrying a mold having recesses complementary to the cleats. However, after each section of the belt was cured, it was necessary for the operators to reach into the relatively small space between the heated platens, after they had been separated, in order, first, to pry the cured cleats out of the recesses and, second, to insert new uncured cleat material into the recesses for the next section of the belt. Working in the limited space between the hot press platen and mold was not only difficult but also was dangerous.
It is, therefore, one of the principal objects of the instant invention to provide a method for the fabrication of continuous lengths of cleated belting.
Another principal object of the instant invention is to provide an apparatus for the fabrication of continuous lengths of cleated belting.